Maureen Bradley

Maureen Bradley specializes in trauma, grief, anxiety, depression and severe, persistent mental health problems, bringing twelve years of clinical experience to her work in New York.

She is licensed to practice clinical social work in New York and offers a direct, candid style that combines blunt assessment with warm validation. Her approach often includes sarcasm, laughter, and occasional swearing as a way to keep interactions honest and human. She permits swear words in sessions as long as they are not directed at her, do not reference female body parts, and are not sexually inappropriate.

Maureen encourages plainspoken honesty and is comfortable naming when a situation makes her nervous, sad, or angry for a client. At times she may show emotion in session, including shedding a tear, and she does not hide that response. She brings her genuine self to each meeting and expects clients to bring their true selves as well.

A frequent question she asks in session is “What is that like for you?” - a prompt meant to center the client’s unique experience. Once an emotion is identified, she tends to stay with it and support clients as they process that feeling, which for some people is their first experience of being present in the moment.

To avoid leaving clients feeling worse after a session, Maureen makes space to fully process feelings and then spends time building people up before the session ends. If there is not enough time to cover everything, she may ask to “bookmark” a topic for the next appointment so sessions can close on a constructive note.

She does not judge clients or prescribe what they “should” do; instead she witnesses their efforts and highlights acts of courage along the way. Courage, she believes, is one of the most important tools in therapy.

Clinically, Maureen primarily uses Cognitive Behavior Therapy to examine how events connect to thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. She also integrates Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills - including mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness - and makes use of worksheets, diary cards, and chain analysis to trace events that lead to problematic behaviors.

Above all, Maureen emphasizes the importance of the therapeutic relationship. She hopes to help clients find courage and create a life that feels meaningful to them, sometimes laughing and sometimes shedding a tear along the way.